Fridays nights were dull, they had always been dull. I wished for something to happen, to change the monotony of life. I really should have been careful what I wished for.
I was 19 when it happened, working at the bar on the college campus to earn some extra cash while I studied law. Every single Friday night was the same, rowdy guys and girls gyrating and kissing while they drank away their lives. It was boring.
One Friday changed my life forever, it was Thanksgiving and most of the other students had gone home for the holiday. I had the night off and agreed to go out with Ashley and Madison, why I have no clue but I'd promised them. We arrived at the bar a little after 9 o'clock and I had ordered the drinks. Something pink and sweet for Madison, a beer for Ashley and vodka and coke for myself, for the longest time we sat and studied the other people in the bar, Ashley insisted on telling us the latest gossip about almost everyone that had entered the bar including who was sleeping with whom. After a few drinks, I relaxed a little and started to understand why people enjoyed this so much. I should really explain that I don't normally drink, my father was an alcoholic and died of liver and kidney failure when I was 7.
Madison's brother had arrived shortly after us and kindly refilled our rapidly emptying glasses. We had dated for a few months when I first started at college but his passion for football had driven a firm and immovable wedge between us.
At 11 o'clock, I started feeling light headed and sick. I put it down to having too much to drink and despite the best efforts of both Ashley and Madison, I made my excuses and left.
The house I shared with 4 other girls was empty and would be for the next few days. I pushed the door closed and flicked half heartedly at the lock. In retrospect, that was my first mistake but also the best thing I could have done. I made my way to the kitchen and had a few glasses of water before climbing the stairs and showering quickly.
My room was perfect. Sparsely decorated and tidy. In its center a large double bed with an ornate wooden headboard. The bed had been my grandmothers and I loved the feel of the solid mahogany. By this point, I was still feeling ill, but knew that a good nights sleep was all I needed and after throwing my towel into the wash basket and slipping on my sleep mask, I snuggled down under the duvet and passed out.
I woke up sharply and tried to remove my mask. Fear griped my heart and stomach when I found that my arms were stretched out above my head, an unfamiliar cold holding my wrists in place. I fought for minutes, maybe hours against the new restraints but to no avail. All I could hear was my heart beating loudly, it sounded as though it were actually in my head, a marching band of enormous proportions hammering a terrifying tune.
'Oh god, this is it.' I remember thinking, 'I'm going to die right here.'
I laid as still as I could, which, given my restraints wasn't hard. I couldn't hear anyone else in the house but that didn't help to calm my rapidly growing terror.
Minutes, maybe an hour passed since I had awoken and my heart slowed to a more normal pace. I pricked my ears, trying to hear the sound of another person. From my left, a floorboard creaked under someones weight and I screamed loudly. Someone had been there all along, maybe watching me and doing who knew what at the same time. I knew this person had to be the cause of my confinement.
'What do you want?' I called out in the direction I had guessed they had gone in.
Silence greeted me.
I asked again, trying to hide the fear in my voice as I spoke.
Warm, soft hands wrapped around my left ankle and my first instinct was to pull my leg back. The grip tightened but wasn't painful as my leg was straightened out and securely fastened to the foot of the bed. I fought, I really did, thrashing as best as I could and hitting nothing but air. Bile burnt the back of my throat as those same soft hands secured my right ankle in the same manner.
'He's going to rape me!' My mind screamed at me, 'Do something, he's going to rape you!!'
I screamed, begged and yelled hoping that someone on campus would hear me and call the cops but no one did. If my screams were heard, then no one thought anything of them at all.
'Please, please don't hurt me. I have money in the dresser, take what you want just don't hurt me, please!!'
Silence met my every plead. It was that that had scared me more than anything.
I tried to cover my exposed body, tried curling up so that I wasn't so vulnerable. The restraints prevented me from doing much and so I laid there, my breasts exposed for my captor and my sex spread for the taking.
I listened then, lying as still as I could trying to work out where he was. The gentle click of a camera gave him away and I flinched as markedly as if he had hit me. Four, five maybe six more clicks followed and I tried hiding my naked body once more.
He grunted something at that point and forced my legs open before taking many more photographs. Tears seeped from my face and out from under my mask, they tickled slightly as they rolled down my cheeks and I was powerless to wipe them away.
'Help!!!!' I screamed. 'Rape, fire, murder! Help!!!'
I screamed with all the force my lungs would allow, words flowed from me like water and I was glad that they were words that, if heard, would result in the arrival of the police.
'Shut up!' a male voice barked and instantly my screams died on my lips as terror took over control of my system and I sobbed.
He left me then, left me alone with my terror and tears.
The pain in my shoulder was all that stopped me from falling into a light sleep and I struggled to get comfortable. My throat was dry and sore from screaming and my brain suddenly wondered why it was that I wasn't cold.
'He must have put the heater on.' I told myself slowly.
'But why would he? Why does he care if I'm cold?'
Footsteps echoed down the hardwood corridor and I stiffened at the sound. The door creaked slightly as he entered and once again I tried closing my legs, my knees bending in like a frogs.
'Would you like a drink?' he asked me.
I nodded quickly, my throat burning from my screams.
Gentle hands lifted my head slightly and cool glass touched my lips. I drank quickly, the icy cool water soothing my throat if not my fear.
He took the glass away and gently laid my head back down on the pillow.